The Tales of Naruto Uzumaki
by DeanSamWinchester
Summary: FemNaru. She didn't mean to destroy the building for the third time! Or punch the council member son! And despite what her grandfather believed, she couldn't control her friends' antics or liked getting into trouble. She already had her own trouble to deal with: like ignoring the fox inside of her, controlling her old man's behaviour and having an overprotective cousin.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own anything.

**Author note: **I know that I shouldn't be making a new fanfic but I couldn't help myself. So I'll be alternating weeks on which fic will be updated. However, this came to me, as I was reading Fairy Tail's Innocent Vixen so I couldn't help myself.

* * *

><p>Sarutobi Hiruzan knew the moment he laid eyes on the bodies of Minato and Kushina that they were dead or the very least going to die in the next couple of minutes. With their stomach pierced, it would be a miracle if any one of them would survive.<p>

It didn't mean he couldn't hope that one of them had survived. He looked down at the baby sleeping soundly, noticing the small tuft of blond hair that was so similar to Minato. Her face was round just like Kushina and her cheeks were adorned with fox-like whiskers but what stood out to him was the seal on her stomach. He realized with horror that the little baby was their child, their daughter that the two of them had spent hours talking about and what his successor had done to the baby girl.

He shook his head and grabbed the baby from the cushion, clutching her close to his chest as he made his way towards Kushina, hearing numbly as one of his subordinates cried out Minato's name. He closed his eyes, feeling his old heart tightened with pain at the lack of answer. Hiruzen knew it meant that his successor was truly dead, perhaps from sealing the fox into his daughter or protecting her from the fox itself.

Taking a deep breath, Hiruzen walked closer to his subordinate that was calling out to Kushina, his voice desperate to get some answer from the woman. He balanced the baby in his hand as his subordinate put Kushina into a sitting position. She stared at them with pained eyes but with a bright smile on her face as she looked at the baby in his hands.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama…" Kushina wheezed and he rushed towards her, kneeling down until the two of them were at eyelevel. She smiled at the sight of her child in his arm but her smile was soon replaced with a look of pain.

"Kushina…"he finally said as he tried to formulate the words to say that he would take care of the child in his hands. But, the words were stuck in his throat and his lips suddenly became dry when he saw the smile playing on her lips. He wondered how she could still smile? It was obvious to anyone looking at her that she was in so much pain. So how could she still smile?

"Please…tell Minato's father to take care of Naruto," Kushina begged—her tone filled with so much pain as she looked at the sleeping baby. She took in a couple of deep breaths, wincing at each deep breath she took before continuing. "He's the only one Minato and I…can trust to take care of her. He needs to know about his new grandchild. If he's everything like Minato described then I can rest easy knowing that she won't suffer from this burden. Minato has hopes that the villagers would see her as a hero…but I don't think that will ever happen with what happen to the village."

Hiruzen nodded his head, staring at the smiling red-haired woman and watched with a pained heart as her eyes became dull and how her whole body slumped against his subordinate, who yelled out her name. How could this day any get worse? Hiruzen moaned, staring at the wide-eyed baby in his hands. For a few minutes, the baby was quiet as he moaned and rocked her back and forth. While he did this, Hiruzen thought of how he could take care of her until her grandfather come and picked her up.

But his thoughts were interrupted by the huge wail coming from the baby in his hands. He looked at his subordinates, all of them looked unsure on how to calm down the crying baby. Hiruzen took in a couple of deep breath, struggling to keep his mind in control as he tried to calm down the crying child. For Hiruzen, it had been so long since he dealt with a crying baby. The last time he dealt with a crying baby was with his own son, who was now nearly fifteen years old.

He shook his head and hummed a little tune to keep the baby calm, rocking back and forth as he did so. Hiruzen felt his heart lightened when Naruto stopped crying, her eyes wide as she stared at him and a smile played on her lips.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama, what do we do now?" His subordinate asked—their voices were hollow with grief and angst from what they all had just witnessed and experienced.

Hiruzen stopped humming the tune and looked down at the smiling baby before finally answering, "Tell everyone in the village to gather around. I'll be announcing what has happened to the Kyuubi and the deaths of the Yondaime Hokage."

The two ANBU stared at him as if they wanted to say something to him but seemed to have thought better of it. So with a bow towards him, the two of them rushed out of the forest and made their way to the village to inform them of the assembly. Hiruzen knew what he was to say to the villagers might cause them to look at this newborn baby with hate but he hoped for the baby's sake that it wouldn't be the case.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Naru-chan," Hiruzen whispered, as the baby girl looked up at him with a smile on her face and before he realized it, the baby reached out to his finger. Hiruzen put it closer to her and watched in amazement as she squeezed his finger as if to reassure him that she was fine. He blinked his eyes and smiled at the little baby, who stared right back at him with happiness dancing in her eyes.

This child, Hiruzen decided as he walked towards the Hokage's tower, was a fighter. He wasn't saying this because of what she contained or who her parents were. He knew from the way she smiled at him and squeezed his finger while still giving him a smile as if to say that she was going to be all right.

If that wasn't a fighter then Hiruzen didn't know what was.

* * *

><p>Hiruzen had never met Minato's father in fact before the events that happened last week, he didn't even know that the young man had a father because Minato never mentioned him to them. The young man had always avoided talking about his family, which had always made Hiruzen believe that Minato was an orphan. Oh how wrong he was to believe that! He didn't know what the man was like but for Naruto's sake, he prayed and hoped that the old man was as kind as his son.<p>

Shaking his head, Hiruzen stared at the old man sitting across him. There was no striking resemblance between Minato and this man except from the twinkle in their eyes. Other then that, Hiruzen was very surprised to know this short old man was Minato's father. Why Minato was a fairly tall man while this old man here was as short as a child. Of course, Hiruzen didn't voice it out loud for him to hear because that would have been very rude.

"I thought I will be seeing my son and his wife," Makarov said as he looked at him and then to the baby in his hands. His eyes softened when he saw the pink bundle in his hands. "Tell me why have you called me here? And where are my son and his wife? I've been looking forward to meet the young woman that managed to get my son's heart! It isn't everyday your son announced to you that he's married and is going to have a baby!"

Hiruzen kept quiet at this— uncertain on how he could gently break the news to the older man that Minato and Kushina were dead. Hiruzen knew from the way the man's eyes lit up on talking about his son that he loved his son with a passion. He knew if someone told him bluntly that his son was dead that he wouldn't believe them. He took in a deep breath, stared down at the sleeping baby in his arms and then back to Makarov before finally stating the words that could break the man:

"I'm sorry that I'm the one to inform you this but… Minato and Kushina had died in the battle against the Kyuubi," Hiruzen began, pausing to see the man's reaction. He tried to keep his facial expression blank as he watched the older man struggled to keep his grief hidden but failed to hide it. Hiruzen felt his heart breaking into a million pieces as he watched the tears streaming down his eyes and the hollow look in his eyes. Hiruzen waited till the older man had regained his composure before continuing, "Before Kushina died, she wished that you would take care of Naruto-chan. She stated that you're the only one Minato and her can trust to take care of Naruto."

Makarov blinked and blinked his eyes, looking very surprised to hear this before smiling sadly at this. "I'm surprised Minato and his wife think so highly for me. I haven't been the best father to him and we said horrible things to each other before he came here. I never knew that he trusted me to take care of his daughter…are you sure his wife wasn't joking with you? I know I haven't been the best father to him or his brother but for them to want to take care of Naruto…it just surprise me."

Hiruzen raised his eyebrows at this before nodding his head. "Kushina told me that if you're everything like Minato had described then she can rest easy knowing that she won't suffer from the burden that Minato and her had placed on her."

"Burden? What burden had my son and his wife placed on her?" Makarov asked—his pitch getting higher at each word he spoke.

The Hokage took in a deep breath and answered, "To defeat the Kyuubi, your son had to seal the Kyuubi inside his daughter."

Makarov stared at him, looking uncertain on whether or not he was joking about the fact that his son had sealed a demon inside his newborn daughter. He took in a couple of deep breaths as he rocked back and forth in his seat, waiting for the older man to say something to him but the older man said nothing, only staring numbly at him.

The Hokage sighed and continued. "Knowing this, will you raise Naruto?"

"Of course I will raise her!" Makarov said, jumping onto his table and Hiruzen leaned back in his chair when he saw the flames of passion dancing in his eyes. "I don't care if Naruto has a fox inside of her! And I can't deny my daughter-in-law request for me to raise her! But I can't promise you about her becoming a shinobi. I'm not letting any grandchild of mine having this job! I couldn't prevent Minato becoming one but I can prevent Naruto from becoming one!"

"What if Naruto wants to become a shinobi?" Hiruzen asked, glancing down at the sleeping baby.

"Then that's a different story but I'll make sure she doesn't want to end up becoming a shinobi," Makarov promised, smiling down at the sleeping bundle. "I'm also not certain on whether I'll bring her back here. I know one day she'll be curious about her home and I know that I can't stay away from my son's grave. I've so many things to say to him, things that I should have said that day and things that I was going to say to him when I found out about him becoming a father."

"I am certain that Minato knows these things, he was a very bright boy," Hiruzen said as Makarov paced back and forth in the table. This made Makarov's face split into a wide smile and puffed his chest, looking proud at hearing the compliment.

"Minato got his brains from his mother," Makarov said, beaming at him. "My wife was one of the smartest people you could meet! She wasn't able to go to school because of the warring states period. Till this day, I remember how she insisted Minato and Ivan went to school even if they insisted they weren't going to become doctors. You should see their whines."

Hiruzen laughed and shook his head, imagining a young Minato complaining about going to school. The Hokage couldn't see the young man complaining but just imagining it was enough for him to laugh however, his laugh stopped when he saw the pain in the older man eyes. He didn't know the pain that only a parent could experience but Hiruzen knew from witnessing the countless parents, who lost their kids, that the pain of losing a child was the worst pain that they could feel.

"If you wish to bring Naruto here for visits then wait a few years," The Hokage informed him as he handed Naruto to him. Hiruzen felt his heart constrict when he saw how Makarov clung to the child, rocking her back and forth. He knew that Naruto was the only legacy left of the Hokage, no, of Minato and Kushina. "I fear if you bring her here in the next three years that she'll feel the hatred of the villagers. A child must not experience those feelings."

"Hatred? Why will they hate Naruto? Why will they hate my granddaughter" Makarov whispered harshly while he balanced the baby in his arms. "I understand that they hate the fox for killing their loved ones but Naruto? Naruto is just a child. A little girl unfortunate to be given this burden."

"It is because she carries the Kyuubi they'll hate her," Hiruzen said, rubbing his temple. "She's a reminder of the many lives that were lost. They won't look past the whisker marks in her cheeks and see her as Naruto but see the fox she carries in her. Already, people are calling her the demon child and are calling for her death."

"She isn't a demon child!" Makarov said as Hiruzen took in a couple of deep breaths. "She's an innocent child in this matter! And even if she was one, how could they be so willing to want a baby dead? My son didn't die for them just to want to kill the girl! To kill his own child!"

"I know and I've given them the highest punishment if they even mention the Kyuubi to their children or grandchildren," Hiruzen informed him. "I hope that when Naruto does come here that she'll be able to make friends with the kids here. By the time she comes here, hopefully the whole mess will blow over and no one will figure out that she is the jinchuuriki."

"By the time she will come here, she'll be at least ten years old," Makarov said firmly. "By then, my grandson will come with her and her uncle too. I know that Ivan will be interested to see the village that his brother had lived in and Laxus is very interested in the stories his grandmother had given him about the village her clan made."

Hiruzen smiled at hearing this. "And if they ever do make their way here, they're free to stay in my house!"

"And the same goes to you Hokage-san, if you ever find yourself in Magnolia, you're welcome to stay at our home," Makarov smiled. "Even if some of your shinobi have somehow find themselves there, they're welcome to my guild."

Hiruzen nodded and watched as the old man rocked back and forth with his granddaughter. He knew that Naruto was going to be loved by her grandfather. He could tell from their conversation that Makarov already loved his granddaughter with as much passion as Minato had, maybe a little bit less because a grandfather's love couldn't compare to a father's love. However, Hiruzen could feel the love pouring out of the old man's body, ready to envelope the whole room with it. He knew that Naruto was going to be a happy child.

In the weeks to come, so many guild members would spoil Naruto and have many parties dedicated to her. She would have her cousin looming over many people that dared to look at her in the wrong way and have her grandfather's friends buying her dresses that showed how cute the girl was. She would not know of the life she had barely escaped from or the names she would be called.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading<strong>

**Please pause before leaving this page and review**

**I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**A/N**: I want to thank everyone who reviewed and added this story to their favorites and follows.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Seventeen years and ten months later<strong>

Nearly eighteen years had past since Makarov had received the letter telling him to come to Konoha and learnt of his son and daughter-in-law death, changing his life forever. Eighteen years ago, the house was filled with pictures of Makrov and his wife with their two kids. Now of days, his home was flooded with pictures of him surrounded by his two grandchildren. His routine used to be waking to silence, never hearing any joy in the household but all that changed when he was handed his granddaughter.

Instead of silence, Makarov now woke to the sounds of his granddaughter's singing while she cooked for them breakfast. Usually, his granddaughter would cook them eggs, sausages and bacon. Sometimes, he would wake to the sounds of Naruto arguing with Laxus about stealing the sausage from the plate or stealing the pancakes from the plate. It was a surprise that none of the neighbours had ever complained to him about the arguments those two have.

Those two would have an argument at least once a day; if it weren't in the house then it would be in the guild, where everyone could hear and see the two of them argue. Makarov knew that it was his grandchildren way of showing that they care for each other but he was fed-up of hearing their constant bickering day in and day out. Everyday, they argued about the same usual topic if it wasn't Laxus stealing the food then it was ruining Naruto's date.

He shook his head at his train of thought and stretched his arms before jumping down to the ground and made his way to the kitchen. He sniffed the air, drooling when he smelled the sweet scent of his granddaughter's famous pancakes. His granddaughter must be very happy today to be making her special pancakes.

"Good morning, Gramps!" Naruto greeted as he grabbed a seat on the table. "I'm making tropical pancakes, is that alright with ya?"

"You don't see me complaining do you?" Makarov retorted, smiling at her as he took a seat on the stool. Naruto laughed and nodded her head before placing the pancakes on the table. He smelled the pancakes again and nearly moaned at just how delicious the scent was. Makarov was grateful that he had a talented cook for a granddaughter. "So what's the special occasion kiddo?"

"I will have you know Gramps that I also make pancakes when there is no special occasion," Naruto said, pouting at him. "But if you must know I feel like today is going to be a very good day."

Makarov shook his head at hearing this. "If that's the case then everyday is going to be a good day for you, Naruto-chan. Is Laxus awake?"

"I don't think he's even in the house," Naruto said to him as she pulled the seat beside him. "Y'know as well as I do that as soon as I make these pancakes that he's here faster then I can say 'ramen'. I don't know who loves my pancakes more, you or him! So I think he might have gone to the clubs with one of his teammates and hooked up with someone there."

Makarov nodded and blinked his eyes at hearing this. Naruto simply laughed and shook her head before asking him about the meeting he had in Clover Town a few days ago. He smiled as he told her about it, repressing the thought of how many years had passed since Naruto had come into his care. His grandchild was now a grown woman yet he couldn't think of her the young girl that would run up to him and declare to him about how she was going to become a guild master and a powerful mage like him.

Makarov could remember her first steps, her first laugh, her first words and all the other first that children had. He remembered her cries about her grades. He remembered her first fight in school and her very first prank. He could still vividly remember her begging him to tell Laxus that he didn't adopt her. He remembered the day where she begged him to let her be in the guild and how she tricked him into letting her join. Oh how he remembered clearly the day she declared she was in love with a member of the guild before deciding the next day, she wasn't in love with him.

Makarov nearly had a heart attack that day and wanted to murder the boy that made his sweet little granddaughter fall in love.

It had been nearly eighteen years since the Third Hokage gave him his youngest and only granddaughter and yet to Makarov, it felt as if it was just yesterday when he was handed his granddaughter. Oh how Makarov wished that time didn't fly because before he knows it, Naruto was going to get married and…

He didn't want even to think about it.

"…And Natsu is such an idiot to believe Daisuki-san's rumours on Igneel," Naruto said, snapping him from his train of thought. Makarov blinked his eyes and pretended to look like he had heard his granddaughter's earlier words. "Honestly, what kind of dragon would go to a place where there were humans? If I didn't know that the idiot wouldn't listen, I would tell him this! Seriously, where is his common sense?"

"Naruto, you know that Natsu will rush to any place that has a slight hint of his foster father and you nearly did the same thing a couple of years ago," Makarov pointed out to her. Naruto flinched at the reminder. "Do you not remember how you begged me to take you to Konoha?"

"First off, I am different from Natsu and secondly I just wanted to see the village where I was born! And I wanted to see my parents' grave! Is that so wrong Gramps?"

"No, it isn't wrong Naruto to want to see their graves but I didn't have the time to take you there," Makarov said, slumping against his seat. "I still don't have the time to take you there with the meetings coming up and all the blasted paperwork, I can't take you there. Besides, I told you that you can go if you take Laxus with you."

"And like I said Gramps, I can take care of myself," Naruto grumbled. "If I took Laxus with me then he would say insulting things to them and we will be in trouble. Do you not remember the time he punched that merchant's son because he simply looked at me?"

"To be fair on Laxus, that boy looked like trouble."

"Don't defend my idiot of a cousin!"

Makarov sighed and shook his head while Naruto ranted about the numerous times Laxus had punched every man that looked her way. He knew he should disapprove the way Laxus handled the potential boyfriends for his granddaughter but he honestly didn't like any of the young men that looked at his granddaughter. None of them were worthy to have his sweet, little granddaughter's hand and they all wanted the same thing from Naruto.

It was only natural that Laxus wanted to prevent Naruto from experiencing the heartache those boys would give her. But Makarov knew at this rate, the blonde would never get a proper boyfriend or even get married—not that was important because Naruto had plenty of time to experience those things. Makarov decided right then that he would stop Laxus from destroying her potential boyfriends when Naruto was thirty.

At least then, Makarov could rest easy that Naruto learnt how horrible teenage boys could be.

* * *

><p>"You want your usual drink Naruto-chan?" Mirajane asked as Naruto took her usual seat beside Gray. The blond-haired girl beamed at the young woman and nodded her head, slumping her head against the table as she waited for Mirajane to make her orange smoothie. She propped her head on her hands and stared at Gray.<p>

"Why are you giving me that look?" Gray asked as Naruto stared wide-eyed at him.

"I'm bored," Naruto answered as the older boy took a sip of his smoothie. "And I know you won't talk to me unless I give you that look."

"You could have just started talking to me like a normal person."

"And miss your uncomfortable look, please!" Naruto said, beaming at him. "Anyways, how was your last mission? I heard from Gramps that you walked into town naked and ran away after stealing the underwear that was being dried."

"That was only a few days ago!" Gray said, making a face at her. "How can he get the report that fast? And you make it sound like I committed a crime. Wouldn't it be much more worse that I stayed naked the whole time?"

"Isn't stealing underwear consider a crime? And yes it would be much worse but you wouldn't need to steal if you just listen to me. How many times have I told you to bring spare clothes with you?" Naruto pointed out to him while Mirajane placed her orange smoothie in front of her. Gray stared blankly at her, Naruto growled in frustration. "Do you ever pay attention whenever I give you the rant about the spare clothes! I don't know why you didn't let me go with you! At least then I can prevent you from doing those things!"

Gray snorted and pointed out to her. "We usually do our missions together. The only reason why you didn't come with me is because you decided to go on a mission with Cana, remember?"

"I forgot about that," Naruto admitted and Gray slammed his head against the table at hearing this. "Hey Cana needed someone to go on a mission with her! Besides the two of us needed to hang out together. It has been so long since we did a mission together."

"Two weeks isn't a long time."

"Oh yes it is, Gray," Naruto sang as Gray took another sip of his drink. "Cana and me have been mission partners since we were just little kids. The only reason why we don't do the same mission is because the both of us have a conflict on what type of mission we want."

"You mean you want a mission with boys and Cana doesn't want one," Gray stated as Naruto took a sip of her drink. "There is a similar pattern of the type of missions that you take Naruto."

"Not my fault that I want to meet guys," Naruto informed him. "If you have Laxus as your cousin then any chance of finding a boyfriend is low. Remember what he did to Loke for even trying to flirt with me?"

Gray snickered at the memory but a glare from Naruto promptly stopped the snicker. Naruto knew it was funny that Laxus had made the playboy wet his pants but the fact he did it because he flirted with her just made her furious. If she tried getting a boyfriend then her cousin would promptly find a way to make sure that the guy was just too scared to go on a date with her or sabotage the date.

"Is little Naru-chan frustrated at her lack of dating life?" Gray teased.

"Of course I am frustrated by my lack of dating life," Naruto retorted. "The only guys he seemed to trust to be around me are you, Natsu and Freed! And that's because Freed is just too loyal to Laxus to try anything on me and I can't imagine dating the pair of you—the two of you would make horrible boyfriends."

"I can understand Natsu but me?"

"You strip Gray that's the only explanation I can give," Naruto said, smiling at him. "Besides we both know that you will never ever see me in that way, right?"

Gray shrugged his shoulder and stared at her as if he wanted to tell her something before thinking better against it. He leaned against the stool and took out a cigarette from his pockets but before he could even light it, Naruto snatched it from his hands. He glared at her but the blonde glared right back at him before throwing it at the trashcan over the counter.

"Why the hell did you do that?"

"Smoking is bad for your health Gray," Naruto warned before tackling him down to the ground. She searched through his pockets, slapping his hands away from her as he tried to push her off of him. Naruto beamed when she felt the box of cigarettes and the lighter. She took it out of his pocket and threw it over the counter, causing the older boy to cry out in protest.

His cries of protest only got Naruto to crackle and before they even realized it, Naruto was tickling the older male's stomach, causing the older male to laugh. Mirajane just shook her head at the two teens antics, gently reprimanding the girl about how she shouldn't do those things to Gray while grabbing the beers that a couple members of the guild ordered.

Naruto just stuck out her tongue at the young woman's back before jumping off of Gray's stomach.

"I don't understand why you keep doing that whenever you see me smoke," Gray complained when she finally pushed herself off of him. "You could be a normal person and just tell me not to smoke or tell me to smoke outside."

"Because I know you and I know you won't listen to me," Naruto retorted, helping the older teen up to his feet. "When I tried to tell you to stop smoking, you pretended to listen to me but I could smell the smoke in your mouth the next day. So the only way for me to stop you from smoking is for me to do these things! Besides you have to admit it that it is fun!"

"In no way is this fun!" He yelled at her and Naruto rolled her eyes at him. This only made the older teen growl in frustration at her behaviour. He crossed his arms as if he wanted to say something to the younger teen but thought better of it. Instead, Gray just grumbled about how bossy the younger teen could be.

Naruto only laughed at this, slinging her arms around the older boy. If it was anyone but Gray then Naruto would argue with them but this was Gray, her first male best friend. This was the same Gray who she always went to when her cousin was acting like a jerk towards her and Cana didn't want to listen to her whining. She crackled when Gray tried to push her away from him like he always did whenever she did this to him, which was all the time.

She pouted when Gray finally pushed her away and he simply grunted at her, not bothering to give the girl an apologetic look.

"WE'RE HOME!" A familiar voice yelled—his loud voice echoed throughout the guildhall. Naruto and Gray glanced at each other, both of them shaking their heads at the familiar yell while everyone else in the guild cried out their greetings to him. Naruto only knew one person who would yell that loud and that would be Natsu, the only known dragonslayer in their guild.

Naruto laughed at the sight of seeing Natsu's furious face, watching with amusement as the teen rushed towards Daisuki, slamming his feet against the older man's face. She glanced at Happy, who just stood there and watched as their friend slammed the older man against the floor. Naruto knew she should stop Natsu but didn't have the heart to stop him, deciding it would be better if he took out his frustration on Daisuki.

"Hey Gray…" Naruto sighed when she saw Gray rushing towards the pink-haired male. She knew she shouldn't ask him to stop Natsu from fighting. When those two were together then a fight was inevitable between them, Naruto rubbed her temple, watching as the two of them fight. It would be a matter of time before she stopped their fight from getting out of hand.

"Wha-what's with this place? None of them are normal…" A blond-haired girl moaned, drawing Naruto's attention to her. Naruto blinked her eyes and jumped down from the stool, just in time to avoid the flying stool heading her way. She kneeled down to stare at the girl, who looked wide-eyed at what she was witnessing. Naruto scanned through her memories to see if she knew the girl before coming to the conclusion that she didn't know her.

"Fairy Tail isn't known for having normal people," Naruto said, looking at her fighting comrades with amusement. The girl scrambled to sit up straight and stared wide-eyed at her, looking as if she was ready to have a heart attack. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! What's your name? And I am sorry that you have to witness this but they aren't usually like this."

"N-Naruto!" She squealed. "You are the guild master's only granddaughter!"

"Naruto-chan, who is this? Is she a newcomer?" Mirajane asked before Naruto could say anything to the girl. Naruto only shrugged her shoulder and glanced at her fellow blond, who seemed to be hyperventilating at the sight of Mirajane. Naruto swore she could almost see the hearts in the girl's eyes at seeing Mirajane.

"Mirajane! Naruto!" The girl cried out. "You're the real ones!"

Naruto blinked her eyes. "Why wouldn't we be the real ones? That's a very weird things to say!"

The blond-haired girl flushed at her words and Naruto opened her mouth to apologize to the girl, knowing what she had said to the teen was rude. However before she could say anything, the girl shook her head and stared at the fighting members and then back at her and Mirajane, looking very confused at the sight in front of them.

Finally, the teen asked, "Aren't you going to stop them?"

"I should stop them before grandfather comes down here," Naruto agreed, rubbing her temple while Mirajane shook her head. This only caused Naruto to raise her eyebrows at Mirajane. "Why shouldn't we stop them Mirajane? This is getting out hand even for our guild."

"It happens all the time doesn't it Naruto-chan?" Mirajane reminded Naruto. "There is nothing for us to worry about."

"I will disagree with you about that," Naruto said, giving the fighting members of the guild a disapproving look. She pulled Mirajane and her fellow blonde out of the way from the flying glass bottles. "It is getting dangerous and it will be a matter of minutes before the guild will be destroyed because of their lack of control."

Mirajane laughed and nodded her head while the teen stared wide-eyed at them. For a brief moment, there was an awkward silence between them as the blond-haired girl simply stared at her. Naruto opened her mouth to ask her about her name but stopped when she heard the sounds of the tables being pushed away. Mechanically, Naruto turned her body around and flushed a light shade of red when she caught sight of a naked Gray. She looked away from the male and growled at the sight of Natsu waving Gray's underwear for everyone to see.

One of these days, Naruto was going to kill the two of them.

Closing her eyes, Naruto rushed towards the bar and opened the drawers, where she placed Gray's emergency clothes. She grabbed the first clothes she saw and ran towards Gray, who was facing Lucy. Naruto closed her eyes and handed the older boy his clothes, ignoring their new guild member's screams about how Gray shouldn't be facing this way.

The girl had so much learn about their guild.

With that in mind, Naruto grabbed the girl and dragged her away from Gray and the others. She gave the younger girl a smile, grabbed her drink before jumping up to the balcony, where her grandfather usually stood when he gave his speeches. She crossed her arms and cleared her throat, watching as the members fought with their fist.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND STOP YOUR GOD DAMN FIGHTING!" Naruto yelled. Everyone in the guild stopped fighting and looked up at Naruto, who now stood on one foot on the balcony. All of them gulped at the furious look in the blonde's face, dropping their tools as they waited for Naruto to continue to speak. "Glad that I have everyone's attention. I am all right with you guys fighting but you guys are destroying the guild house! And how many times have I told you to control yourselves! Natsu, I am happy that you are back but this doesn't give you the right to just get into a fight immediately! If you are going to fight, do it outside."

"Naruto…"

Naruto gave the pink-haired teen a glare that promptly made him shudder and shut his mouth up. They both knew she wasn't in very good mood with him and everyone knew to avoid Naruto when she was in a bad mood. "Good, now please fix everything up before Gramps comes out. I may be no Erza but I have my own ways of making you guys listen to me, got it?"

They all gulped and nodded their heads. Everyone still remembered what Naruto did to a member of the guild who didn't do what she said. Till this day, that member of the guild was still in the hospital for stealing her ramen. The blonde warned him that if he dared to take her ramen then she was going to send him to the nearest hospital.

She fulfilled her promise.

"Now with a more cheerful note let's welcome our newcomer into the guild," Naruto declared, holding up her smoothie for everyone to see and pointed to the flushing blond-haired teen. "Let's drink to her health and party like there's no tomorrow!"

Everyone cheered at hearing this and raised their glasses to the blond-haired teen, who flushed even brighter at the stares that she was getting. Naruto smiled apologetically. She knew how embarrassing it could be but it was a tradition of hers to announce to everyone about the newcomers. The first one she started the tradition with was Cana and it slowly build from there.

"Thank you Naruto for telling everyone to stop their fights and for welcoming our newcomer," Makarov said, appearing beside his granddaughter. Naruto jumped up at the sight of her grandfather, who gave her a smile and gestured for her to go back down. With a grin, Naruto jumped down, landing beside Natsu and Happy while her grandfather jumped down from the balcony, waved his hand at the newcomer and said. "It's nice to meet you."

She simply nodded dumbly at him. Makarov smiled at the blonde before doing a backward flip to the balcony of the second floor. Everyone winced when Makarov hit his back against the stand and Naruto, herself, nearly rushed towards her grandfather to see if the old man was all right. She sighed in relief when she saw Makarov scrambled to stand up on the balcony, clinging to the papers in his hand as if it was his lifeline.

Standing straight, Makarov took in a deep breath and scanned the guildhall; his eyes lingered at each member of the guild and waving the papers in his hands. He finally said in a calm even tone, "You have done it again, fools. Look at these documents I received from the council."

Naruto winced at the reminder, remembering her grandfather's cries when she handed him the documents she received in the document. Naruto was used to her grandfather crying for their guild's mischief but she still felt pain to hear the old man's cries. The old man shouldn't be crying for what their guild had done and that was why she tried her best to make sure they didn't cause any more destruction.

Although, she also caused some of the damages her grandfather received.

"Firstly…Gray!" Her grandfather cried out, reading off the first name from the list.

"Huh? Is this about the incident from a few days ago? Because I have a very good reason for what happened," Gray said, making a face at her grandfather.

Makarov nodded his head. "I see Naruto informed you about it. You did a good job on sweeping out the smuggling organization but you walked around naked in town afterwards and ran after stealing underwear that was being dried!"

"Like I told Naruto, wouldn't it be worse if I were naked?"

"And like I told you, bring some spare clothes with you!" Naruto said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Or don't get naked in the first place!" Elfman suggested.

Naruto frowned at this. "Elfman that would be so hard for Gray! He needs to be naked every five minutes."

"I'm not naked every five minutes and I don't need to be naked!"

"Fine, two minutes!"

"God damn it, Naruto, it is more then that!"

"Right, I will make it two minutes and one second."

"It doesn't take me ever two minutes and one second to get naked!" Gray protested. "Why the hell do you think I need to get naked!"

"Because you have been like that since we met!"

"Can the two of you stop your bickering!" Makarov yelled at them, stopping the two teens from continuing their argument. Naruto sulked but nodded her head while Gray gave a tense nod towards the older man. Everyone else in the guild just either laughed or sighed at their antics, already used to the two teens' arguments and the predictably of their arguments.

"Now where was I?" Makarov muttered, looking back at the document in his hands. "Right! Elfman! You had a mission to escort a VIP, but assaulted him during the mission."

Elfman scratched his neck when everyone turned their attention to him. "He said 'men are about education' so…"

Makarov shook his head, giving Elfman a disappointed look before fixing his eyes on Cana and then at Naru. "Cana Alberona! Drinking fifteen barrels of alcohol and charging it to the council! Naruto Uzumaki! Young lady, I cannot begin to describe the anger I felt when I learnt that you punched the council member's grandson!"

"He tried to make a move on me!" Naruto cried out while everyone snickered at the teen's misfortune of being called out by her grandfather. "I ain't letting some spoiled shit touch me and he insulted our guild! I wasn't going to just stand there and listen to that brat talk shit about us! He had it coming!"

Her grandfather simply sighed and gave her a disapproving look before, going on to the next person on his list, Loke. "Loki…flirting with council member Elder Reiji's granddaughter. A certain talent agency charged us for damage compensation, too."

The older teen made a face at this. Naruto gave the male a pitying look and watched as her grandfather left the best for last or better wording would be, the worst troublemaker for last. She and the others had caused a lot of damage to the towns they visited but it didn't compare to the trouble, Natsu brought. Most of her father's complaints came because of Natsu.

"And Natsu," her grandfather said, hanging his head down as he tried to control his growing temper. "You destroyed the Devon thief family, but also destroyed seven other houses that belong to the townspeople…levelling a historical clock tower in Tully Village. Burning down a church in Freesia. Damaging parts of Lupinus Castle. Nazuna Ravine observatory collapsed and thus stopped its operations. Destroying half of Harujion's port."

Natsu made a face at his growing list of destroyed property her grandfather kept sprouting while everyone shook their heads at hearing this. Well almost everyone, only Lucy looked horrified of the number of buildings Natsu destroyed or helped to destroy in a few of those cases. Naruto wondered whether or not if the pink-haired teen would ever learn how to not destroy buildings.

"Guys…the council members are angry at me all the time," Makarov informed them—his facial expression darkened and everyone in the room tensed at what the older man had to say next. "But…forget about the council members."

As soon as he said this, Makarov set the documents on fire and threw it down to Natsu, who grabbed the document and started to eat it like he was some kind of starving animal that hadn't eaten food in days. But knowing that idiot it was probably not the case, Naruto thought, looking up to her grandfather.

The old man stood up straight, placed his hands against his back before starting his speech of the day. "Listen up. The power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the 'spirit' flows within us and the 'spirit' flow in nature connects, you will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring all of your soul into whatever you do is the magic."

Makarov smiled widely at all of them and suddenly the tension of the room disappeared as if it had never been there on the first place. Everyone was smiling as they waited to listen to what the old guild master had to say to them.

"If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve," Makarov declared to them. "Do not fear the fools of the council! Do whatever you think is right! That's the way of the Fairy Tail mages!"

Everyone cheered at hearing those words, making comments about how right the master words were. In some cases, people were pumping their fist and high-fiving their neighbours. In a few cases, people laughed and cheered as they talked to their neighbours while others were toasting their drinks to Makarov.

If there was no doubt in everyone's mind, it was that Fairy Tail was one of the best guilds to be in.

* * *

><p>"I forgot how great it feels when you are presented with your guild mark," Naruto commented casually to Mirajane after the older teen gave the newcomer, Lucy her guild mark. "It just seems so long ago."<p>

"That's because it was so long ago Naruto-chan," Mirajane reminded her, giving the younger teen a gentle smile. Naruto smiled and shrugged her shoulder while she watched Lucy ran towards Natsu to show off her new guild mark. "It has been ten years since you got the mark right?"

"Longer," Naruto corrected. "I was only six years old when I got it. I remembered begging Jii-chan if I could get one and being so angry when he kept telling me no. So one day, I told him if I could beat him in rock-paper-scissors that I could join the guild. He agreed and the rest as they say is history."

Mirajane smiled and giggled, imagining a younger Naruto begging her grandfather to let her join the guild. She could really picture a cute little six-year-old Naruto in her pigtails begging with a puppy dog look to the old man about allowing her to become an official member of the guild. Although, it was a surprise for Mirajane to hear that Makarov didn't let Naruto join immediately because as far as Mirajane knew, Makarov wouldn't deny Naruto anything.

The old man loved his granddaughter too much to deny her anything. If Naruto asked Makarov to give her the world then the old man would have tried his hardest to make it happen for the blond-haired girl.

"Have you heard from Laxus? He hasn't been around the guild lately," Mirajane asked, changing the subject.

As soon as Mirajane asked the question, Naruto lost her easy going smile and replaced it with a darker look. Suddenly, the usual happy-go-lucky girl didn't seem…so happy-go-lucky anymore. Not to Mirajane. It was as if the curtains were drawn and she was given the first show of what Naruto was currently feeling towards her cousin. She knew they weren't close as cousins could be but she had never seen Naruto looked this angry before.

She could feel the slip of dark energy radiating out of her but as soon as it was there, it was gone and Mirajane wondered if she had imagined the vile feeling.

"No I haven't seen him. Knowing my cousin, he will probably in some bar getting drunk with the other members of his team!" Naruto said sourly, crossing her arms together. "Honestly, he tells me I can't go out and drink while he does the opposite! Did I tell you that I still haven't forgiven him for saying the members of our guild is weak or for frightening any boy that tries come near me?"

"He doesn't want to see you get heartbroken," Mirajane reminded her. "He sees you as his little sister and like any big brother, he feels that it is his job to protect you. You are the only sister figure he has in this guild."

"The way you said it makes me seem like a spoiled brat," Mirajane didn't say anything but Naruto sighed, already understanding the silent message. "I am a spoiled brat and I know I should be grateful but I just wish he treat me like I am seventeen and not the fourteen year old cousin, who used to declare she was in love with the every boy she met."

"You were very boy crazy at that age," Mirajane agreed, giggling while she remembered some of Naruto's antics.

"I know," Naruto said, smiling at the older girl. "And when I think back on those days, I can't believe how much of an idiot I was to think I was in love with those fools. Honestly, I was in love with a member of Blue Pegasus! What the hell was I thinking?"

"Who was in love with a member of Blue Pegasus?" Cana asked, taking a seat beside them.

Mirajane smiled. "We were just remembering how boy-crazy Naruto was when she was fourteen."

"She hasn't changed from being boy crazy," Cana pointed out and Naruto stuck her tongue out to the brown-haired girl. "All your missions have some form of men in them! How come you are an S-class mage, I don't know."

"That's because I kick ass and you know it."

Cana rolled her eyes at Naruto's arrogance while Mirajane just laughed and shook her head, looking amused at Naruto's choice of words. Naruto grinned at them and leaned against her seat, tilting her chair until she could prop her feet on the table before stretching her arms, moaning when she felt her back cracked.

"_Is my daddy back yet?"_

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards the voice, belonging to the only young boy in the room. Naruto felt her heart break when she saw the tearful expression of Romeo. The little boy had been coming here everyday to see whether his father had came back from the mission.

"You're annoying Romeo," Makarov sighed, holding his staff even more tightly. "If you are the son of a mage, trust your father, be a good boy, and wait for him at home."

"He said he'd come back in three days but it's been a week since then…"

"Macau's job is at Mount Hakobe isn't it?"

"It's not that far either!" Romeo insisted. "Please look for him! I'm worried about him!"

Naruto frowned and clenched her hands into a fist as she stared at her grandfather, who ignored her looks of displeasure.

"No way! Your dad is a mage!" Makarov yelled back and Naruto gritted her teeth. "We have no mage here who can't take care of himself! Go home and drink your milk or something!"

"Idiot!" Romeo punched her grandfather in the face and ran out of the guild, sobbing.

Naruto waited till Romeo was out of earshot before stomping towards her grandfather. With her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, she grabbed the stick out of her grandfather's hands. He protested but one look from his angry granddaughter and the old man kept his mouth shut.

"Gramps!" Naruto yelled, slamming the staff down on the ground. "How many times have I told you to control your words? I know you are worried about Macau but it doesn't mean you have the right to yell at Romeo! He's still a little boy! And has every right to be worried about his father."

"We don't have a mage here who can't take care of themselves!"

"No, we do not," Naruto agreed. "But Romeo has a point. Macau doesn't take this long to finish a job and when he makes a promise, he keeps to it. Something has happened to Macau and one of us has to go look for him…"

Just as soon as she finished saying that, the billboard had a crack. The two of them turned their attention to the billboard, eyes widened when they saw that Natsu had punched the billboard. She frowned when she saw the determined expression on Natsu's face. She knew from experience that expression meant Natsu was going to go save someone and this time it was going to be Macau.

It seemed like she wasn't the only one who had this thought.

"The flamehead is going to go help Macau," Gray stated as he took a seat beside her.

"I know," Naruto said, crossing her arms. "It's Natsu after all, he isn't going to let a friend suffer."

"If he does that, it will only hurt Macau's pride," Wakaba pointed out to all of them, sighing.

"Better for his pride to be hurt then for Romeo to be worried about him," Naruto countered. "Romeo is six and he's worried about his dad. We can't have him feel like that. We can't let him feel any pain, not when we can prevent it. That's why we shouldn't stop Natsu from doing what he was doing."

"We can't control what Natsu do," Makarov added, puffing on his pipe. Naruto narrowed her eyes at her grandfather, making a gesture for him to give her his smoking pipe. He sighed and handed it to her. "So we should do as Naruto pointed out and leave Natsu alone…"

Naruto ignored her grandfather as he spoke about how he trusted Natsu would bring Macau back, instead looking at the pictures hung on the bar's walls. The pictures of past mages of the guild, gone, present and deceased, were plastered onto the wall as a way of remembering them. The pictures she loved the most were the ones of her father. The one she loved the most was the one where her father held both her grandfather and Uncle's hand as they took him to their kindergarten.

It was only in those pictures Naruto could see how much things had changed. In those pictures, she could see how kind her Uncle was before her grandfather expelled him. Everyone could see the love her uncle had for her father and the happiness and proudness her grandfather had for them. No one in the guild knew what caused her father to leave the guild, not even her own grandfather fully understood his son's reasoning to become a shinobi.

All everyone knew was that at the age of nine, her father ran away from home after having the worst arguments with her grandfather. He didn't leave a note or anything to tell her grandfather where he was. In fact, it wasn't until after he got married that they started speaking again. Not that people knew this, her grandfather told her this after she started searching through his letters to find pictures of her young father and mother.

She wondered how her parents met and wondered if it was just as beautiful as how her grandparents met.

"You're thinking about your dad again, aren't you Naruto?" Gray asked, looking at the smiling picture of her father and her Uncle.

Naruto didn't bother to look away from the picture to answer his question. "I am just wondering, what was my father like? I mean I heard stories from Gramps but it doesn't compare to the real thing. Like was my dad a romantic? And how did he meet my mum? Did they meet in school? Or were they put in the same team together? And was it love at first sight? I have just so many questions about their love life. Haven't you ever wondered how your parents met or their love life?"

Gray shrugged his shoulder. "No, I have never really thought about that. All I knew from the stories my Mum used to tell me was that Mum and Dad had been friends since they were babies. Mum used to tell me she knew she loved my Dad the moment they met while Dad would always deny the fact he loved her from the moment he saw her."

"See, you know how they met each other!" Naruto said, crossing her arms. "And the way they met seemed so cute. I don't know how my parents met and I can't ask Gramps because he doesn't know. The only people who know are the people who met my parents when my Dad went to Konoha. Y'know I have never been there even though my parents' graves are there! I have never paid my proper respects to them! I am a horrible daughter aren't I?"

Gray shook his head, placing his hand on his chin and looked hard into her eyes. The expression in his face was serious, not looking like his usual laid-back self. "You are not a horrible daughter, Naruto. Even though, you haven't visit their graves, you have done a lot of things to remember them. Remember, how you drag me and Cana to the church so you can say your prayers to them on your birthday?"

"Yeah but it doesn't change the fact I haven't visited their graves," Naruto pointed out. "Besides I did that to you and Cana because Gramps and Laxus weren't here for me to go to the church."

"Yeah and you could have skipped it if you have wanted," Gray said. "You always go to the trouble of buying them flowers even if their graves aren't here and make cakes on the day your father was born. How many people do you see do that? It's just weird how devoted you are to them even though they are dead."

"What about you? You never come to the guild in the first week of October because you go and visit your ruined village," Naruto pointed out and Gray raised his eyebrows at her. "Come on Gray, I have known you for the past ten years! I picked up on things and it doesn't take a genius to figure out where you go."

"I know but I am surprised you know exactly when I will go," Gray admitted.

Naruto smiled. "We have been friends for so long that I know you. You know about me baking cakes on my father's birthday."

"Yeah but everyone knows that."

"True, I give everyone cake on that day because I can't let Laxus or Gramps get too fat from eating the cake."

"And you want us to get fat?"

"You won't get fat," Naruto said, crossing her arms at him. "Everyone here does a lot of exercise and I can't have Laxus getting more arrogant if he eats all the cake. It is bad enough he treats all the members of the guild like crap, giving him more cake might make it worse."

Gray didn't protest against those words and Naruto sighed before continuing. "I really don't know where this attitude of his is coming from! He used to be so nice before Gramps exiled Uncle. He used to take Cana and me to the playground and push the swings for us. He always used to joke about how I was going to become fat and get flustered whenever I get upset. I miss those days…"

"He still makes fun of you becoming fat."

"Yeah but back then he used to say it with a teasing glint," Naruto whispered, clenching her hands into a fist. "These days, the way he says it just makes me angry and want to throttle him."

"I think that's also because he ruins any date that you try to go on."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because you complain about it every single day," Gray deadpanned. "I think everyone in the guild here knows about your lack of love life and has seen first hand what Laxus will do to any male that flirts with you."

"He didn't mean to electrocute Loke," Naruto protested. "And I warned Loke not to flirt in front of Laxus. It isn't my fault he didn't take me seriously."

"You should have made it more clear to him on how protective Laxus can be to you," Gray stated, pressing his hands into his pockets. "That bastard could be so overprotective over you that I am surprised he hasn't killed Natsu or me yet for talking to you."

"That's because I can't imagine dating you and you have enough sense not to date me," Gray grinned at that and Naruto rolled her eyes before continuing. "He is okay with Natsu because of the fact Natsu is still immature and hasn't even realize girls yet."

"So if Natsu wasn't immature and actually look at girls, you will actually consider dating him?"

Naruto shrugged her shoulder. "Well Natsu is sweet and he can be funny. It probably doesn't help he isn't too bad in the eyes. Besides, it will be funny to see Laxus reaction if he finds out that I am going out with him! Can you imagine how he will react? I bet it will be ten times worse then the time he found out about Loke's flirting!"

Gray laughed at this and Naruto grinned at him, looking around the smiling faces of her fellow guild members before declaring to all of them that drinks were on her.

Naruto knew that despite all of her complaints about her cousin and her family in general, she would never find a family as loving as theirs. After all, who needed to live in their hometown when they had a family like this?

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading<strong>

**Please pause before leaving this page and leave a review**

**I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed and added this story to their favourites and follows.**

* * *

><p>Naruto knew from the moment she smelled her grandfather cooking their breakfast that her grandfather had something to tell her or the very least wanted to ease her burden of cooking breakfast for everyone in the family. With the amount of housework Naruto had to do in the house, she was surprised she hadn't gone insane yet.<p>

It didn't mean she didn't feel a little bit guilty her grandfather was cooking breakfast for them. With a frown, Naruto twisted her hair into her usual braid, tucking her hair in her right ear and putting the butterfly hairclip her grandfather gave her. She placed the blue rose necklace on her necklace and went downstairs, hoping her cousin didn't steal her food.

Smiling brightly, Naruto slip into her usual seat in the counter and watched as her grandfather hummed a familiar tune while he flipped the eggs. She placed her hands in the counter, laid her head on her hands and mused about how she was perhaps lucky to have a grandfather like him. Not many people would have a grandfather who supported them in their dreams and loved them as fiercely as her grandfather did.

"You are finally awake Naru-chan," her grandfather said, not looking up from the cooking pan. Naruto didn't need to look at her grandfather to see the teasing glint in his eyes. "I was wondering when you are going to wake up from your beauty sleep. Not even Laxus takes as long as you do."

"It's not my fault I love to sleep," Naruto protested, giving her grandfather a pout as he placed her eggs and bacon onto her plate. She looked down at the egg and smiled when she saw how her grandfather decorated her food into a smiley face. The old man used to do those things a lot when she was younger—long before she learnt how to cook a proper breakfast. Now of days, it was her duty to cook for everyone in the family breakfast.

In fact, she did most of the housework since her grandfather was busy with the guild and Laxus was terrible in doing housework. Naruto still remembered till this day how Laxus had placed her clothes with his and how for a whole day, she had to wear his clothes because she had no idea where he placed her clothes. What kind of person placed his female relative clothes in their room? Only Laxus could do something like this. Also Laxus was a terrible cook! He was the only person she knew who could actually burned rice!

It took a real skill to burn rice if you asked Naruto and it was for these reasons why Naruto had never allowed Laxus to do the housework or go anywhere near the kitchen. She was just afraid to know what he would destroy their cozy house because he didn't know how to do the housework properly.

"So why are cooking such a delicious breakfast?" Naruto asked after she finished swallowing down her food. "Don't get me wrong Gramps, I love taking a break from cooking and everything but you rarely cook breakfast unless you have something to tell me."

"Can't I be your loving grandfather and decide to cook breakfast?" Her Gramps asked. "It isn't everyday my granddaughter sleeps in."

Naruto simply arched her eyebrow at her grandfather and this caused the old man to sigh at her behaviour. She shook her head when she heard the old man grumbled under his breath about how sad it was his own granddaughter didn't trust him. The old man always said this whenever she questioned him in his motives of cooking breakfast for them.

"You are right I do have something to tell you," Makarov admitted while Naruto poured orange juice into her grandfather's glass and then into her own one. "I am going to have a meeting with the other guild masters in Clover Town."

"It has barely been a month since you guys have a meeting, what is it about this time? " Naruto pointed out to her grandfather. The old man shrugged his shoulders at her and the blue-eyed girl simply sighed at this gesture. "Well can you at least tell me how long you are going to be out?"

"Probably a day or two," Her grandfather answered. "I will bring you back some presents from Clover Town. Is there anything you practically want and don't say prank material because I don't want to see the guild being nearly destroyed again."

"That was just one time, Gramps!" Naruto cried out. "Besides how was I suppose to know that Natsu was going to react like that?"

"Because it is Natsu."

"You got a point!"

Makarov laughed and returned to the topic at hand. "So what do you want from Clover Town Naru-chan?"

Naruto gave her grandfather a thoughtful look before answering, "Can you ask Bob-jiji if he can hook me up with one of his mages?"

"Anything but that Naruto!" Her grandfather yelled, turning green at the thought of asking his old friend to hook his mages with his sweet little granddaughter. Not that Bob would do that because the Blue Pegasus guild master knew what he would do to him if he even agreed to the idea.

"I was just joking Gramps," Naruto grumbled while her grandfather took several calming breaths, trying to control his rising blood level. "You know I don't like Bob-ojisan's mages like that. They are all bunch of airheads and flirt too much if you asked me. If you could bring me some of the deserts from there then that will be enough and their ramen too!"

"What am I going to do with you, Naruto? You are too young to think like that and definitely too young to even think of dating," Makarov grumbled, jumping down from the stool. "I don't know what it is going to kill me the trouble the guild gets into or you and your desire to get a boyfriend."

"Well for one, I am not too young to go on dates," Naruto said, narrowing her eyes at her grandfather. "Cana-chan has been on dates and she is only older than me by a couple of months, even Gray went on dates! What makes them different from me? I never see you trying to stop them from dating or even Laxus for that matter."

"That's because Cana and Gray while I see them as my own kids, they aren't my biological grandchildren and don't fall recklessly in love," Naruto laughed nervously at this and Makarov continued. "And Laxus wouldn't listen to me even if I do stop him."

"And I will?"

"No but I will like to think that you have a good head in your shoulder and realize that you shouldn't date especially teenage boys," Makarov grumbled—remembering his own teenage years. "Teenage boys only want one thing Naruto and that is…"

"To have a casual relationship I get it Gramps," Naruto said, shaking her head at him. "You and Laxus have been telling me this since I turned fourteen and declared I was in love with one of Bob-ojisan's mages."

"We are just looking out for you Naru-chan, you are the only girl in the family," Makarov said. "It is our duty to make sure that no one tries to ruin you or break your heart. God forbid what I would do to the boy who breaks your heart…"

Naruto simply sighed and pretended to listen to her grandfather while he ranted about what boys wanted from innocent girls like her. She knew the male members of her family were overprotective but she never thought her own old man would be this overprotective over her. Not even Laxus ever called it as his duty to make sure no one tried to hurt her but for her grandfather to say this, made Naruto wonder how many boys her grandfather scared off.

It was understandable that because she was his only granddaughter he was protective over her but Naruto wanted to experience love. She knew at this rate, she would be so lucky if any guy would be willing to date her if both her grandfather and cousin acted like this. No boy could stand up to them and if they couldn't stand up to them then they weren't really worthy of being with her.

She wanted someone with a backbone and not some guy who was easily scared by her male relative.

* * *

><p>"And where have you been Naruto?" Gray asked when Naruto took her usual seat beside him. She shot the older teen an irritated look, placing her head onto the table and twisted it around until she could see him in a better angle.<p>

"Well? It isn't like you to not be here around twelve," he stated as he took a sip of his ice smoothie. "You are always the first person in the guild."

"I am not always the first person in the guild that goes to Mirajane! And to answer your question there was a special offer in my favourite ramen stand that if you eat two bowls of ramen then the third bowl was free," Naruto answered, letting out the yawn she had been holding back for the past hour. "You know how hard it will be for me to turn down an offer like that."

"I am surprised you haven't gotten fat from the amount of ramen you eat," Gray pointed out to her, eyeing her stomach in suspicion. "You and Natsu are the only people I know who can eat fifty bowls of ramen and not become fat. You are sure you're human?"

"Are you jealous, Gray that you can't do the same?"

"Of course not Naruto," Gray said, crossing his arm. "Why the hell would I be jealous of a girl who can barely get a date…"

"I will have you know that I can get a date," Naruto said stiffly. "And who are you to talk? All the girls you dated were either a fangirls or a ditz, remember how one of them accused me of trying to steal them from you?"

"I honestly don't know where she got that idea from," Gray grumbled. "And anyways, not all my ex-girlfriends were fangirls or ditzy."

"Name me one girlfriend you had that wasn't a ditz."

"There was…" Gray trailed off as he racked his brain to remember any of his ex-girlfriends who didn't fall into any of those categories. He opened his mouth to name one of them before shaking his head when he remembered a ditzy moment she had. "Alright you got a point but at least I have gotten a date and kissed someone!"

"I have kissed someone before."

"We are not counting that time when Erza made us crash into each other."

"Why not? You kissed me!" Naruto said, crossing her arms at him. "And it was for a good solid five seconds before you push yourself off of me."

"Accidental kiss don't count! And don't say it so loud! If Laxus finds out about it or Mirajane…" Gray said, shuddering while he thought of what Mirajane would do if she found out about that particular incident. "You know what she will say if she finds out about that incident and who she will tell."

"You mean she will try to convince us that we like each other when we really don't like each other like that," Naruto said, looking at him in horror. "I don't want that to happen especially if she goes to Laxus and tells him this. I would like to see you live then die."

"You are over-exaggerating, Laxus won't kill me if he finds out right?" Naruto gave him a pitying look and this only caused Gray to gulp even more. "He isn't going to kill me just because of what Erza did to me? We were only ten! Ten! And it was an accident! A peck at most and just touching at least!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night!" Naruto sang.

This only got Gray to groan at her response and Naruto to crackle at his misery. It wasn't nice of her to laugh at her friend's misery because she knew better than anyone what Laxus would do to Gray if he found out about the accidental kiss. Killing him would be the least of Gray's worries, what he had to worry more was how slow her cousin would prolong his torture on Gray. Not that she would tell her friend this because her cousin was never going to find out about this.

Not if she had a say in it because there was no way she could lose Gray and Natsu to her cousin and his overprotective tendencies.

"But these people from the darkness really do exist," Mirajane said softly and this caused everyone to stop what they were doing and stared at the three of them, interested on what the beautiful barmaid could be talking about.

"…We call whatever guild that doesn't belong to the league, a 'dark guild'," Mirajane said and those words stopped Naruto and Gray from finishing their argument. The two teens glanced at each other and looked at the silver-haired girl, who had drawn up the organisational chart of the mage world. Naruto raised her eyebrow at Gray but the older teen shrugged, looking just as confused as to why the older girl had done this. Everyone in the guild knew about the organizational chart of the mage world right? Her grandfather complained about it every single day.

Naruto could write the whole organizational chart in her sleep and recite the order of which it went because of the amount of complaints her grandfather made. He got the complaints from the magical council, who made it a point to state just how badly behaved their guild was. Like they could talk, all of them were corrupted well except for Yajima. The old man wasn't too bad especially given he shared the same love for ramen like her.

No one could be that bad if they loved ramen as much as her.

"They don't follow the law, so they are scary," Natsu added.

"Aye."

Meanwhile as the three of them continued on their discussion about the dark guild, Naruto grimaced and stared at Cana. The older girl paused in her drink and shook her head, grimacing as the two of them remembered their very first mission together. It was the first time the two of them decided to team up and of course Naruto being Naruto, she decided to take the coolest mission in the board…without telling her grandfather.

She thought from the stories her cousin told her that it would be a piece of cake to defeat the dark mages but those were that…stories. Naruto knew how stupid it was for her to think that she was the same level of Laxus but all she ever wanted was to prove to her cousin he didn't need to protect her. So at the age of ten, Cana and her set off to defeat the dark mages and came back home with bruises that told of their stupidity.

For an entire week, Naruto had to listen to Laxus ranting about how reckless and idiotic she was to take a mission far above her skill level. Her grandfather had been so furious with her that he didn't talk to her for a whole week and grounded her for a whole four months because of her action. Cana was also punished alongside her, being forced to do chores around the guild for a solid three months.

"…Either way, why don't you choose a job already?" Natsu asked, snapping Naruto from her train of thought.

"We choose one without consulting you last time, so it's your turn to pick Lucy," Happy added and Naruto scowled. She forgot how the three of them were so lucky in getting an interesting job that had a huge bounty even if it turned out to be a fake. It just went to show how lax the council were in checking whether someone could afford to pay for it or not. The couple had been lucky it was Natsu, who followed the guild moral code on situation like these.

If only he followed the code of not destroying building.

"You wouldn't mind taking in just about any blond girl, would you?" Lucy hissed, glaring at Natsu and Naruto slammed her head against the table at hearing this. It seemed like Natsu had done something stupid again.

"Well I couldn't ask Naruto because she would hit me for even picking a job that has to do with perverts and she was out with the stripper" Natsu said, shrugging his shoulder.

"You bet your ass I would hit you if you even thought about it and Gray asked first if I wanted to go on a job with him. If you wanted me to come then you should have asked me from the beginning," Naruto informed them.

"You would have said no immediately like you always do."

"Because whatever mission you choose meant trouble and I will like to avoid trouble thank you very much," Naruto informed him. "Besides I need to make sure Gray doesn't strip."

"How is that any worse then Natsu destroying the buildings?" Lucy asked in disbelief.

"Because Gray stripping harms the little ones mind," Naruto answered firmly. "And I don't want to get blamed by my Gramps for not controlling him. Gray is easy for me to control because I bring spare clothes with me and he listens but Natsu…"

"Natsu doesn't listen," Happy finished, smiling at them.

"Exactly!"

"Aye!"

"I thought you were on my side!" Natsu cried out to Happy.

"Naruto is scarier."

Everyone nodded their head in agreement while Lucy looked wide-eyed at hearing them say this. She looked at the smiling blonde and tried to imagine what Naruto would be like if she ever got angry. Lucy sighed in frustration, unable to imagine what the easy-going girl could be like when she got angry but she must be something for everyone to agree Naruto was scary.

"Anyways Lucy if you don't want to work with Natsu then it's fine," Naruto informed Lucy, snapping the girl from her thought. She had a bright smile on her face. "You can work by yourself if you want or find another person to team up with. From what I heard from Gramps, you did a good job in your first mission! It will be a matter of time before people will ask you to work with them!"

As if to prove this, Loke said. "Lucy…would you like to make a love team with me? Just the two of us, tonight."

"I hope you are not being serious Loke," Naruto said, giving a warning look to the mage while Lucy sweat dropped at the male's words.

He laughed nervously and shook his head at Naruto. "O-Of course not Naruto-chan."

Gray snickered at the boy and shut up when the blonde directed her eyes at him. This only got Loke to snicker at Gray. Naruto shook her head at the pair of them, wondering if all boys were as silly as the two of them. Looking at Natsu and the other boys in the guild, Naruto decided that yes all boys were as silly as Gray and Loke maybe even more sillier then the pair of them.

"I heard from Naruto you defeated two mages from Southern Wolves and a gorilla-like woman right?" Gray asked, grinning at Lucy. "You're really amazing."

Lucy sighed. "That's all Natsu."

Naruto groaned and watched as Gray rushed towards Natsu, grabbing the pink-haired boy by the collar as he yelled at him about it being him doing it. Why couldn't they last one day without arguing? Why oh why must they always be like this? Naruto asked mournfully, watching as Natsu and Gray raised their fist, ready to punch the shit out of each other. One of these days, Naruto thought, she was going to lock the two of them in the room and make them talk about their feelings.

When Natsu and Gray slammed their fist against each other cheeks again and were now raising their leg to kick each other was when Naruto decided she had enough of them fighting each other.

"_Natsu_…_Gray…what the hell did I tell you about fighting in the guild!_" Naruto yelled—the ends of her hair splitting into what seemed like nine tails. The whisker marks in her cheeks got darker and her eyes stilted, making the girl look more like an animal then a human being. The temperature in the room increased and everyone in the room shifted in their seat, looking at the two teen boys with pity.

Natsu and Gray stopped their fighting; looked up at Naruto who loomed over them and gulped, knowing how much trouble they were in. Natsu dropped the black-haired boy, who fell down on the ground. Cracking her fist, Naruto slammed both of her fists on the pink-haired and black-haired boys' heads. Both of them cried out in pain before stumbling down in the ground in the case of Natsu or breaking the floor in the case of Gray.

"If I see the two of you fighting again, I will be sending you guys to Erza and we know what she would do to you guys if she found out that you guys were fighting."

"We are not scared of Erza!" Natsu declared.

"Could have fooled me," Naruto retorted.

Just as soon as she finished saying that, Loke rushed into the room looking as if he had seen a ghost. Naruto frowned and glanced at Lucy. Mirajane and Happy, who was giving Lucy pitying looks. The blonde raised her eyebrows at the cat who simply mouthed her the words 'Loke ran away after finding out Lucy is a celestial mage' and this only got the girl to nod. Oh yes, she hadn't forgotten how much fear Loke had for these mages.

But if this was the case then why did Loke came back so suddenly? Naruto asked herself as the older man tried to regain his breath. It wasn't like him to come back to the guild this fast after learning he was in the presence of a celestial mage. Something must have forced him to come back to the guild this soon.

"Oh crap! Natsu! Gray!" Loke cried after he regained his breath. "Erza is back!"

Natsu and Gray immediately looked at each other in horror along with the rest of the guild members in the room, only Naruto simply smiled. It was nice to have the older teen back, Naruto mused, dragging the two teens along with Lucy into the bench. Now the guild would be in their best behaviour since Erza was practically their disciplinary committee. Well maybe a little bit better since she couldn't give them detention.

Naruto couldn't count the amount of times she was given detention because of how rowdy she was in class. Her teachers used to say they knew they were in the right class just because of the loudness of her voice and the way the girls used to complain about how she caused trouble in the class.

Her musing were interrupted when Naruto heard the heavy footsteps that could only belong to Erza. Shaking her head, Naruto watched as the doors slammed open and revealed a red-haired woman carrying a huge horn into the guild. This was Erza, one of the strongest woman in the guild and the one everyone in the guild call Titania for she was the one that kept them in order.

Everyone in the room gawked at the decorated horn that might have been twice the size of Erza and Naruto put together. The horn had jewels decorated all around it, making it look like it was more of a decoration that was befitting of a queen then a mage. Everyone jumped in their seats when Erza put down the heavy horn on the ground and gawked when they saw it was really taller than the red-haired woman itself.

"I'm back," Erza declared, surveying the whole guild. "Is the master present at the moment?"

"Sorry Erza but Gramps left for his meeting with the other guild master in Clover Town," Naruto answered, giving the red-haired girl a smile. Erza nodded her head and Naruto looked at the horn before continuing. "He will be back in a few days but the better question to ask is how did you get the horn?"

"The local townspeople decorated the horn of the demon that I subdued," Erza answered, smiling. "It was so pretty that I brought it back as a souvenir. Is it a nuisance?"

Naruto sweat dropped when Erza gave her a serious look and shook her head. "Of course not. It's just that it is so rare for you to bring things back so I was just wondering why you brought it with you and how you got it. It looks so pretty! Can I sketch you with it? Pretty please? It can go on the wall!"

Erza smiled and nodded her head at the blond-haired girl's request before walking to the middle of the room, where everyone could see her. "Anyway, guys I heard you have been causing trouble again. Even if master forgives you, I won't."

Naruto sighed and shook her head at hearing this and watched with amusement as Erza reprimanded the members of the guild for their behaviour. She gave a smug smile to Cana, who groaned when the red-haired woman scolded her for her inappropriate drinking posture. The brown-haired girl scowled at her, mouthing to her that one of those days Naruto was going to get scolded by Erza. The blonde only stuck her tongue out at her.

Cana simply scowled even harder at her.

"Is she a disciplinary enforcer or something?" Lucy stuttered, drawing Naruto's attention back to her.

Naruto laughed at Lucy's expression. "Erza isn't scary Lucy-chan, she is one of the nicest person you can meet in the guild even if she doesn't tend to act that way now."

"Aye!" Happy cried out, saluting. "Erza is being Erza."

Just as soon as Happy finished saying that, Erza turned her attention to the three of them. Happy immediately stiffened, Lucy gulped, Gray and Natsu were hugging each other while Naruto gave the older teen a bright smile. She blinked her eye when the red-haired woman walked towards them, a grim look on their face and Naruto had a bad feeling on what Erza was going to talk to them about. A grim look from Erza meant trouble because it meant someone was in trouble and Naruto didn't want to be in trouble with Erza.

Naruto was barely managing in not getting into trouble with Erza, barely being the key word because she had no doubt if she destroyed a building then Erza was going to yell at her.

"H-Hey Erza, w-we're being g-g-good to each other as always," Gray stuttered, swinging his hand over Natsu's shoulder. Naruto shook her head when she saw the two teens were sweating and shaking while Erza stared at them. Lucy simply gawked at the sight in front of them, opening her mouth to ask this sudden change of behaviour but Naruto shook her head and told her fellow blond in hushed whispers she would explain later.

Lucy nodded her head.

"I see," Erza said, nodding her head. "Best friends do fight once in a while but I would rather see you two being good to each other like that all the time."

"Erza, like I have been telling you all this time, Natsu and me are not best friends or anything like that," Gray stuttered, still shaking while he said this. He gave a pleading look at Naruto but Naruto whistled and looked up into the ceiling. It wasn't like Erza would listen to her about this after all when did she ever listen to her about them? If she told them they were causing trouble then yes she would believe her but if she tried to convince her that Natsu and Gray weren't best friends, then no.

Not that Naruto could blame her because Naruto believed that the two of them were best friends but had too much pride to admit it.

"I am happy to see that the three of you are doing great," Erza said, ignoring Gray's words. "I actually have a favour to ask of the three of you."

Naruto frowned. "When you say three of you, who do you mean? Because there are a lot of people in this table Erza."

Erza nodded her head. "When I say the three of you Naruto, I mean Gray, Natsu and you."

The blond-haired girl nodded and then tilted her head at the beautiful red-haired woman. "Alright now that's you tell us specifically who it is, what's up? You never ask favour from us especially from Natsu or Gray."

"You are right about that but I heard something troubling at work," Erza said, frowning. "Usually I would consult Master about this, however I regard this matter as urgent, so I need your help. You will come with me right?"

Gray and Natsu looked wide-eyed at Erza's words, blinking their eyes again and again. They weren't the only ones who looked shock at her words, everyone in the guild was shocked to hear this. It was a well known fact to everyone in the guild that Erza never asked for help, in fact Erza never teamed up with anyone. No one in the guild could remember a day where Erza teamed up with someone—why would she? This was the strongest woman in the guild and for her to ask for help was something big.

It was Naruto who broke the silence. Taking a deep breath, the blonde gave her fellow S-class mage a smile and answered. "Of course we will come. It isn't like we have something important to do and it must be something for you to ask us to help you."

"We will leave tomorrow. Prepare yourself," Erza said, turning away from them. Everyone in the guild whispered to each other about how this was the first time the red-haired woman teamed up with someone. All of them glanced at Erza whenever she walked past them, eyeing the horn she carried and then to the three teens. Some of them tensed whenever the red-haired woman glanced at them, keeping their mouths shut and only finally relaxed when Erza left the room.

Gray waited till Erza left before glaring at the smiling blond-haired girl. "Who said you could make decisions for us? Have you ever thought that I don't want to team up with Natsu or Erza?"

"I did," Naruto hummed while Gray scowled at the shorter blond. "And it is time that you learn how to team up with them especially Natsu because I might need to do missions with him just so I can keep an eye on him."

"But why do I have to be dragged into this?"

"Because you care for me and don't want me to become insane."

"I think you have already crossed that line."

"I am not insane Gray!"

"Sure you aren't and I am not a fire mage."

"Guess that means you are one."

"Take that back!"

"Make me!"

The two of them grinned at each other while everyone shook their head, having given up on how to understand those two arguments. The two teens could argue about the silliest things like what food be better and yet give smiles to each other like they hadn't had a heated argument about it. If anything, everyone in the guild couldn't remember a day where those two didn't argue with each other.

They wouldn't be Naruto and Gray if they didn't argue with each other.

* * *

><p>Stretching her arms, Naruto looked around the Magnolia Station and sighed. It seemed like the other members of her party weren't here yet which was not really surprising, considering who she was working with. Natsu lived far away from the station, Gray was sleeping in and Erza must be packing her luggage before coming here. Why couldn't they be early like her? Or on time at least, Naruto asked herself as she took a seat in the bench.<p>

"You are early like always," Gray said, snapping her from her train of thought. She jumped off her seat and scowled at him. He laughed and stared at their train before continuing. "Are you ready for the mission?"

"I am ready as I can be," Naruto answered, giving him a smile. "I brought my emergency supply of ramen and of course your spare clothes because what kind of teammate will I be if I don't bring it? A very bad teammate."

"Where do you always get the spare clothes from? If I didn't know you I would call you a stalker or are you?" Gray stated, staring at the blond-haired girl.

She glared at the black-haired boy, crossed her arms and answered hotly, "And why would I stalk you? The only reason why I have your spare clothes is because of how you used to sneak into my room whenever Laxus and Gramps aren't here. You always strip in my room and leave the house without your shirt or pants! You are lucky Gramps and Laxus hadn't found out about that."

"Even if they did, you will make sure he won't hurt me," Gray pointed out to her. "Besides, your bedroom is more comfy then my own room and your bed feels great."

"Maybe you should use the money you save up and buy a new bed."

"Well I would but a certain girl almost always makes me pay for her ramen," Naruto had the decency to give him an apologetic look and this only caused Gray to sigh. "Anyways, you never complained before. If I remember correctly, you sometimes even curl up to me whenever you sleep."

"It was just one time and you make a big deal about it!"

"Don't deny the facts Naruto and it was more then one time and you know it."

Naruto scowled, opened her mouth before closing it again. She knew he was right because there had been times when she curled up to the ice-user. His coldness helped remind her this was her reality and the nine-tailed fox in her dreams were nothing but a figment of her imagination. If she didn't curl up to him, she feared the little sanity she had would break and she would become what her uncle had always told her she would become:

A murderer just like her father was.

"Whatever you are thinking Naruto, you are wrong," Gray said, snapping her from her thoughts.

She blinked her eyes and smiled. "You don't even know what I was thinking of."

"Yeah but knowing you, you must have been thinking of something depressing because you didn't have your usual smile and the fact you are looking down in your hands tells me that you are thinking of whatever your crazy uncle told you. We both know he was mad."

She smiled and wished she could believe him. Her uncle was right, Naruto thought as she stared down at her hands; she was going to end up like her father one day. If not because of what her father and mother's jobs were then it would be because of the voice in her head who tried to persuade her to kill. So far she had managed to avoid it but, one of these days she knew she was going to crack.

Naruto didn't want to crack.

"WHY DOES THAT MONSTER ERZA NEED OUR HELP?" Natsu yelled, snapping Naruto from her thoughts. The blonde blinked her eyes when she saw the pink-haired boy glaring at Gray, who glared right back. When did he arrive? And wasn't it too early in the morning for the two of them to argue? Naruto asked herself as she stared at them.

"HOW WOULD I KNOW? BESIDES, IF SHE DOES NEED 'HELP' THEN NARUTO AND ME WOULD BE SUFFICIENT," Gray yelled—punching the pink-haired boy in the face.

Naruto groaned at this and wondered why he had to drag her into their fight. He knew just how much she hated being apart of their arguments right? Of course he did because she told him this more then a million times. She wasn't going to get involved this time. Naruto nodded her head. She was going to let them fight it out this time because she wasn't going to be involved with their bullshit.

"Then why don't you and Naruto go by yourselves? I don't want to go!" Natsu yelled.

"Fine then don't come! Get yourself killed by Erza afterwards!"

"YOU TWO ARE CAUSING TROUBLE, SO JUST SHUT UP!" A familiar voice yelled and this caused the two boys to stop what they were doing and look up. The two teens and Naruto raised their eyebrows when they saw Lucy standing there with hands crossed while she looked at them in irritation.

The silence was broken when Natsu asked the question that was in everyone's mind:

"Why are you here?"

"Mira-san asked me to!" Lucy answered, gritting her teeth and crossing her arms at them. "Her exact words were 'it's true that it would be wonderful if those four form a team, but I am afraid that Naruto might have trouble being the mediator between them so can you tag along and help Naruto?' that is why I am coming along."

"Why does Mirajane doubt my ability to mediate between them?" Naruto asked herself while Happy asked the teen if she just wanted to come with them. She should be happy Mirajane thought about her troubles but Naruto could handle the three of them, she had always been mediator between the three of them, mostly with Natsu and Gray.

"Why do you always carry around your sleeping bag?" Gray asked, glaring a Natsu.

"To sleep on it, duh."

"If you two keep arguing, I will put a seal on your lips that will make it impossible for you to speak and walk! Now act like you are friends or else I will do that!" Naruto hissed at them. The two boys gulped and nodded their heads, keeping a smile on their face while they sling their arms with each other. It seemed like they haven't forgotten what she could do to them if they didn't listen to her threat.

"What do you mean seal, Naruto?" Lucy asked, drawing Naruto's attention to her. "How can you use a seal?"

"My magic involves me writing seals," Naruto explained. "It is a type of letter magic where I seal things like objects and all that stuff but also unseal them. Like if I use the right seal, I can absorb someone's magic and make it my own. I can use it to make barriers and all that kind of stuff."

"That's amazing."

"Thank you," The older teen said, smiling. "It is an awesome magic that a lot of people overlook and looks down upon because of the fact it is seals. If used in the right way, a seal can even seal a demon…like my tou-san did."

"Your Tou-san? I heard people talking about him and there are a lot of rumours surrounding him but I have never met the Master's son."

"And you never will," Gray answered before Naruto could say anything. Lucy blinked her eyes and the older boy explained. "Naruto's dad is dead and has been for nearly eighteen years."

Lucy blinked her eyes while Naruto shot a grateful look to Gray. He could have said it better but Naruto knew Gray didn't do emotions or anything to do that. Heck, the only reason why Gray told Lucy this was because he knew how she could be when talking about her father. Naruto knew that this was the only few ways that Gray could show her he cared for her and didn't want to see her in pain.

"I am sorry to hear about that Naruto…I didn't know."

Naruto smiled at the girl. "Of course you didn't know, I don't like talking about it and if you did know I know you wouldn't ask about it right? The only reason why there are rumours is because no one knows the reason why he left home or why he chose the job he had."

Lucy nodded her head and the blue-eyed girl was glad she didn't ask any question about her father's occupation. Naruto was proud to be her father's daughter but she was not proud of the things he had done. His job went against everything her grandfather taught her, went against her own moral and all Naruto could wonder till this day was why he chose a job like that and leave the guild like that.

"I am going to ask you this again Naruto why do have to go out with this woman? My stomach is starting to hurt."

Naruto scoffed. "Nice try Gray but I ain't believing for a second you are sick. I agreed on the behalf of everyone because I didn't want Erza to get angry with us for giving the wrong answer. Besides I will make it up to you after this is all done, we can go to your favourite ice-cream place and eat there."

"Will you pay?"

"Of course what kind of person will I be if I let you pay all the time."

"Even if I tell you, you will be pissed."

Naruto scowled and hit him in the head. Gray yelped out in pain and looked at her as if she was crazy—she only scowled harder at them. Natsu snickered at their behaviour while Lucy looked at the two of them thoughtfully. Happy stared at the fuming blond-haired girl and then to Gray before back to the furious blond again.

"Naruto likeees Gray," Happy declared.

This got them to stop their argument and looked at the smiling cat and before everyone knew it, Naruto slammed her fist on the cat's head. "Say that again I will seal all the rivers in the town containing fish and seal all the fishes in the supermarkets so keep your mouth shut!"

The blue-furred cat gulped, nodded his head and furiously declared to her he would never say these things to her. Naruto grinned, ruffled the cat's fur and turned to look at the others, who all stared at her as if she was some kind of weirdo. She flushed red and looked down at her hands avoiding everyone's stares. She had some right to hit the cat; he was making false accusations on her feelings towards Gray.

They were the best friends and that was it.

"Sorry, did I make you guys wait?" Erza asked, drawing everyone's attention to the red-haired woman. Naruto and the others gawked at the amount of luggage the red-haired woman brought with her. Why would Erza bring so many things with her? Naruto asked, eyeing the cart filled with luggage, it was going to cost extra to bring all these things with them. However Erza would have the money for it, Naruto acknowledged, unlike her who took few S-class missions, Erza took a lot of S-class missions that she must have enough money to pay for this.

"Too much luggage!" Lucy finally yelled, snapping Naruto from her train of thought.

Erza raised her eyebrow and looked at Lucy. "You were in Fairy Tail yesterday…"

Lucy nodded her head and bowed at the older girl. "I am a new member, Lucy. Mira-san asked me to tag along. I will try to be useful."

"I am Erza, it's nice to meet you," Erza said, smiling. "I see so you are the one that the people in the guild were talking about. I heard you defeated a mercenary gorilla, you are very promising."

Naruto bit her lips and looked at Natsu. Naruto knew this was Natsu way of getting people to notice Lucy and it didn't help he had the habit to exaggerate a few things but, she didn't like how he didn't think of the consequence of this action. What if Lucy get hurt because people thought she was that strong? Not that Naruto doubted Lucy's strength because for all Naruto knew, Lucy might be that strong.

"The mission might be a bit risky but seeing how you did on the last job, I think you would be okay," Erza declared.

"Risky?" Lucy yelled, earning a sigh from Naruto.

"I don't know what our task is this time but I will go with you," Natsu said, giving Erza a determined look. "But under one condition."

"Condition?" Erza asked.

Naruto slapped her forehead. She already have an idea on what the pink-haired boy would ask of Erza, he was predictable in this case. There was just one thing Natsu would ask of Erza: a fight. He always wanted to fight someone strong, if not Erza then Laxus if not Laxus then it would be her and if not with her then it would be Gildarts. One of these days, Natsu was going to get himself killed.

"What the hell are you thinking Natsu?" Naruto finally asked, staring at Natsu. "You shouldn't ask of Erza of anything."

"It is alright Naruto, Natsu can tell me what his condition is.

"Well unlike Naruto and Gray I ain't doing it for free," Natsu answered hotly. "When we return, fight me. I am different from back then."

Naruto groaned at hearing this while Lucy and Gray gawked at Natsu. If there was one thought that could be agreed by the three teens it would be that the pink-haired boy was insane to ask this.

"You have really grown up," Erza said, running her hand through her hair. "I am not very confident in myself but okay, I accept."

"What do you mean you are not confident? Fight me seriously!" Natsu yelled, flashing his fist at Erza. The other members of the group simply sighed at the pink-haired boy's behaviour, knowing nothing they say to him would convince him not to fight Erza. Sometimes Naruto wondered why they even bother thinking they could talk him out of it.

The red-haired woman shook her head and laughed. "I know you are strong but I just wanted to say that," she then turned to Gray and asked, "Gray, do you wish to fight me too?"

Gray furiously shook his head and the red-haired woman looked at Naruto. "Do you want to fight me too Naruto?"

"No," Naruto answered. "But I do have a favour to ask of you in fact, I have a favour to ask all of you guys."

"What is it?" Gray asked.

She smiled nervously at them. "I need you guys to come with me to go to Konoha after this because this might be the only chance I have to go there. Gramps won't let me go alone and if I have a lot of people with me then he won't have to worry about me going there. It is just that I have something to do there."

Erza pursed her lips and nodded her head. "Alright but we will have to talk to Master about this. You know how he will react if he finds out you have went there without his knowledge."

Naruto grinned and hugged the young woman. Finally, she thought as she hugged her friend tightly, she was going to see the village she was born into and find out more about her biological parents. Of course after they finished this mission and tell her grandfather about this. She just hoped that nothing bad was going to happen but knowing her luck Naruto knew it would a waste to hope like that.

She never had the best of luck with missions after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading<strong>

**Please pause before leaving this page and review **

**I would like to hear your thoughts on this chapter.**


End file.
